The Drifting Classroom Vol. 11 (of 11): IT ALL ENDS HERE, TRUE BELIEVERS! Could the SHOCKING REVELATION of Vol. 10 possibly be true?! How can THE WHOLE OF JAPAN aid OUR YOUNG HEROES?!? Will any of these kids get home to MOMMY, or at least enjoy THE SMOKY FLAVOR OF HUMAN FLESH again?? Maybe another WICKED HAMMER THROW at least? All that's certain is Kazuo Umezu will be concluding the fuck out of this series, and there's even gonna be a special bonus short story at the end, because manga needs to be 184 or so pages I GUESS!!! In other VIZ news, Naoki Urasawa's (multi Eisner-nominated) Monster hits Vol. 14 of 18.

(and man, New Engineering up for multiple trophies??... that's cool)

Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go: Movie tie-ins? We've got 'em this week, and none will be more interesting than this $39.95 set of two slipcased hardcovers from DMP, collecting the 700-page whole of Tatsuo Yoshida's 1966 manga accompaniment to the original anime television series, which he also created, produced and directed (under the watch of Hiroshi Sasagawa) for Tatsunoko Production, the studio he co-founded. Note that the manga also supposedly contains uncredited work by 8 Man co-creator Jiro Kuwata, whose '60s Batman work will be the subject of Pantheon's upcoming Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan. That's a really nice price, not that I need to tell you.

Nixon's Pals: A new Image graphic novel from writer Joe Casey and artist Chris Burnham, depicting the struggles of a supervillain parole officer and his many charges. It's $12.99 for 120 b&w pages, some of which will be these.

Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels: Your 'not at all a comic' release for the week - a 272-page study of early 20th century woodcut novels by scholar David A. Beronä. From Abrams, $35.00, intro by Peter Kuper.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1 (of 4): Surely the oddest of Marvel's various attempts to get loads of Iron onto the shelves for movie time, this is the third installment of a David Michelinie/Bob Layton trilogy of stories teaming Iron Man with Dr. Doom; part one hailed from 1981 (The Invincible Iron Man #149-150), and part two from 1989 (#249-250). Ron Lim handles the pencils this time around, with inks by Layton. See here. But if this all sounds a little too contemporary for your tastes, this week will also bring the $99.99 Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, collecting material from Tales of Suspense #39-83 and Tales to Astonish #82.

War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle #2 (of 5): That is a long title. Preview thrills here.

The Programme #10 (of 12): I liked the Senator Joe plot twist a couple issues ago. Click here to see what Peter Milligan & C.P. Smith are up to.

Hellboy Library Edition Vol. 1: Yeah, that famous Mike Mignola creation has been a lot of things, but I don't think it's ever been a deluxe set of 9" x 12" hardcovers, primed to look pretty on bookstore shelves just in time for a little movie tie-in action, and thoughtfully designed to match that The Art of Hellboy tome you've probably already got. A mere $49.95 nets you Seed of Destruction (script by John Byrne, colors by Mark Chiarello) and Wake the Devil (colors by James Sinclair), with the original Robert Bloch & Alan Moore introductions included, and a beefed-up selection of designs & sketches.

American Flagg! Limited Edition Hardcover Book Set: Note that this is not the long (long, long) awaited Dynamic Forces collection of the Howard Chaykin classic; rather, it's a package of late '80s Graphitti Designs hardcover editions of the series' first three storylines (so, issues #1-9). Each set is signed and numbered by Chaykin, and runs $79.00. It's missing the last three issues of the initial overarching megastory, and you'll want to watch out for some dustjacked damage, but keep in mind that the new hardcover is going to have the colors reconstructed via contemporary techniques - this may be a different-looking project than what's soon coming.